A paranormal research group (snicker) says it has recorded voices inaudible to the human ear in the old buildings at Heritage Junction and is offering to take you on a exclusive ghost hunting expedition of the property for only $185.

Such is what passes for news these days over KHTS, which devoted a pretty long advertisement article to the strange and wacky phenomena experienced in the historical area, consisting of an old train station, school house, a tiny Ramona chapel and other buildings.

If you’re like me, you probably checked your calendar after reading the story; alas it is not April 1 nor is it the week before Halloween, so let’s dig in to this seemingly serious report.

Reporter Jon Dell states that things have been getting “spooky” at Heritage Junction lately and that many people are starting to ask questions.

Pat Saletore, the SCV Historical society’s Executive Director, confirms the suspicions:

 “I sometimes tell stories that I have heard or experienced, but mostly we have tried to avoid the subject,” says SCV Historical Society Executive Director Pat Saletore. “I hear things all the time that I chalk up to spending time in old buildings, my imagination or whatever.  Every now and then, though, I find myself walking out to the main entrance calling ‘Hello?  Is someone there?’ –when there isn’t anyone there.”

Somehow, and Dell doesn’t detail how, an obviously enterprising group called the American Paranormal Research Association (website)  contacted the Historical Society and was apparently invited in to search the property for wizards, poltergeists, ghosts, gremlins, trolls,  and goonies.

Not surprisingly, they did find something. Cue Saletore:

“They found primarily EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena—recordings that are not heard by investigators, but recorded on electronic media like tape recorders or digital recorders) and audio recordings that were actually experienced by investigators.  The really spooky thing is that some of them supported the stories we have been told by psychics who have been invited to visit!”

So evidently this isn’t the first time the Historical Society has brought paranormal experts on site to investigate goblins. Saletore says they’ve had psychics who have heard the same words recorded by the audio devices.

Sadly, no hint on what those words were or whether the ghosts have any insight into the things that trouble Santa Clarita currently.

The paranormal association website says they are committed to researching “all things Paranormal and related to Parapsychology” and says its purpose is to obtain “absolute proof of paranormal events.” It invites people in the field of Paranormal studies and Parapsychology to join the Association as researchers, and hopes to build a group of researchers in every state to find “undeniable proof” of the other side.

Actually, check all that. There are so many “Association of Paranormal American” groups it was hard to find this group’s real website. After some more digging, I found that the group hosting the Heritage Junction party doesn’t even have a website; rather they only have a MySpace page and describe themselves as  “a team of paranormal researchers and musicians,” in a “band known as Vow Of The Repentant.” They are based out of Bakersfield and their MySpace page has some audio and video clips of supposed paranormal activity (unclear if it’s from Heritage Junction).

They’re also apparently enterprising.  Dell ends the article saying that the group “offered” to host a Ghost Hunting Party for up to 16 individuals for only $185 per person. For that, you’ll get to spend the night in the Saugus Train station “freight room,” a catered dinner, a continental breakfast, a lecture about “ghost hunting procedures and equipment” and a DVD of “evidence captured after review by APRA and sent to each participant.”

In any event, it looks like the Historical Society stands to benefit at least partly from this event, and if it gets more people interested in SCV history (yes, even 16 more would be great), then I’m all for it. But I feel it sullies and cheapens the SCV Historical Society to partner with a couple of musicians moonlighting as paranormal experts who sell tickets to the public.

Then again, what did I expect? Gravitas about Santa Clarita history? I wonder what Jerry Reynolds or Doc Rioux would say?

Someone once commented here that the SCV’s staple of monthly magazines -up to 5 by my count now- usually end up mess of wet pulp and dye, soaked by a sprinkler system on the driveway of their house.

I’m fortunate enough not to receive most of the magazines at my house in the 91321 (no one buys the mail lists of slobs who live in condos, we don’t make enough money to make it worthwhile).

But now and then, I scan the magazines anyway, in order to see if there’s any worthwhile content.

And lo and behold while getting a pedi at the nail salon last Saturday, I discovered a new one! Santa Clarita Monthly “Your Neighborhood Savings Magazine” stood out to me on the table.

Santa Clarita Monthly is not quite a magazine in the traditional sense. It’s a cross between a glossy monthly mag with tons of ads and a fancy coupon book (think ValuPak) that you receive in the mail. I only was able to look at it for a second before its owner actually asked to have it back (Say what?!?), so I went back to enjoying my Newsweek. In that brief second, I couldn’t find any actual content.

I thought a bit about it and actually came to the realization that it was refreshing to see a magazine that dropped the pretense of providing substandard content and just focused on delivering ads. I mean, that’s what most of our magazines are about anyway, aren’t they? They’re just less bold than the SCV’s newest monthly mag.

Indeed, Santa Clarita Monthly’s website is all about ads, how much they cost, the different sizes you can buy, and much more. There’s not any information about any content or writing or articles, let alone articles themselves.

In this way, Santa Clarita Monthly stands out from its competition, most of which at least attempt to deliver some compelling content. Let’s review its competition in order of my tolerance for them:

1. Inside SCV: Provides decent content, including our favorite blogger IHeart’s monthly column. Good writing, a good balance between content and ads, nice layout. Something you wouldn’t rush to remove off your coffee table if guests were arriving. Link
2. Magazine of Santa Clarita: Okay, so the articles are always predictable and include the same 200-300 names, and the newsprint rubs off on your fingers, but Mag of SC gets bonus points for having been around along time and for keeping its website up-to-date.
3. Santa Clarita Living Magazine: I actually haven’t seen this one in years and its website is off-line, but by virtue of the fact that just about anything is better than elite, SCLM earns #3 in my list.
4. Elite SCV: The magazine for the “discriminating” Santa Claritan; elite is so highbrow and aristocratic that us mere mortals (slobs in the .21 and .51 zipcodes) aren’t even allowed to read the free publication’s content-less articles on its website. elite wins the prize for most glossy of the glossy and for using pretentious photographs on their website, like that guy.

And now we can add Santa Clarita Monthly to the list. It’s message, unlike the ones above, is: “I know you’re not picking me up to read a future Pulitzer winner, so let’s just dispense with the BS and I’ll show you the ads.” Fair enough, at least it’s honest!

I miss the days of Claritaville which went belly-up over a year ago. That monthly featured good content and had the feel of an edgier, more sophisticated urban weekly. Maybe that’s precisely why it went belly up.

The Racz murder case & investigation will be the focus of a two hour Dateline NBC special tonight on channel 4. The show will focus on John Racz, the former Sheriff’s Deputy who was convicted last year of killing his wife Ann. The Valencia mother of three went missing in 1991 and her body was never found. Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t know what to expect. A kind soul called me yesterday and offered my wife and I free tickets to the hottest show in town; the SCV Press Club’s 2007 Newsmaker of the Year awards. It turned out to be an interesting experience. Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily News, once a strong local media presence in Santa Clarita, will face extensive newsroom cuts starting tomorrow, reports a staffer who often blogs about the newspaper. Read the rest of this entry »

In a case that highlights some of the tensions and battles for ad dollars between Santa Clarita media properties, the owners of The Signal have sued the paper’s former publisher Richard Budman, complaining that Budman has violated a non-compete contract by operating a rival media publication and poaching journalistic talent from The Signal. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s up and running finally. What do you think of it?

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SCV news junkies and Signal fans who have waited for weeks for the debut of the newspaper’s new website -the first major refresh of The-Signal.com since 2006- need wait no longer; SCVTalk.com has received some unauthorized screenshots of the secret “beta” site and they’re posted below. Read the rest of this entry »

The launch of The Signal’s new website will be delayed until at least February 4 due to advertising issues, a source inside the newspaper tells SCVTalk.com. Read the rest of this entry »